Monday 9/9 - Dunvegan to Inverness

Had breakfast and chatted with the ever helpful and friendly Amanda. She told us that she and her mother and her partner owned the hotel/B&B. They are open from April 1 through October 31 and then close up and go back to Wales where she has house. She said she goes for shopping since they have no time during the season.

They then come back in March to get ready for the season starting in April.
I told that her that her directions were superb and she said "I know my Skye".

We left reluctantly and headed towards Inverness with Amanda's assurance that in no way could we lose our way to Inverness.

Went through beautiful scenery, some which we had passed on our way up but looked different fr the opposite direction and in the morning light.

We took the bridge across to the mainland and pretty soon arrived at the shores of Loch Ness. It is a beautiful lake much longer than I expected. The lake has long rows of ripples that can easily be imagined as a live object aka Nessie or her relatives.

Went passed the Eilean Donan Castle, stopped to admire it but decided against going inside.














Stopped at the Loch Ness Inn for lunch. I had Cullen Skink. A delicious smoked haddock chowder followed by the strongest coffee I have ever had.

Proceeded on to Inverness and the task of finding our B&B, this would have been quite impossible without my GPS.







We arrived at the our B&B, the Strome Lodge and was greeted by our smiling hostess Marianne.







It was a beautiful Victorian House, well appointed and with gorgeous rugs from all over the world in every room. The owners had lived in Dubai for 15 years and came back about 10 years back.

It was almost dinner time, our hostess recommended a few restaurants and gave us coupons for free wine at The Mustard Seed. It was a a short walk across the bridge on river Ness and we found the place easily enough. We got a table with a river view even though we did not have reservations.

Our server was Daniel, a young man full of wit and very cordial. The food was fabulous as was the banter exchanged with Daniel. I had the sea bass at Daniel's recommendation and it was definitely a great choice. I really like the ice cream here, and have ice cream just about with every dinner, something I rarely do back home.

We noticed a man fly fishing in the river and that added to the uniqueness of the situation.







Came back to the Strome Lodge, and discussed tomorrow's plans and went to bed tired but happy.

Location:Inverness

Sunday 9/8 - isle of Skye.

Got up at around 6:00 AM and it was wonderful to see the blue skies and sunshine after the drizzly and gloomy weather of Fort Williams.

Amanda took our orders for breakfast and brought it in quite quickly. I decided to skip the bacon and the Black Pudding. The coffee was delicious.

After breakfast Trish and i spent sometime with Amanda and went over the places we wanted to see, she the ones that she recommends.

A great start to what would turn out to be a a very frustrating day for a "navigator", even worse than the drive from Stirling to Fort William.
Fortunately we did manage to see most everything and they were all definitely worth it. Here they are in the order we saw them:

The unsuccessful search for the ruins at Skeabost.
Fairy Glen
View of the Isle of Lewis
Flora McDonalds Monument
Moonscape
Portree - boat trip
Old Man of Storr
Waterfall - 2
Kilt Rock.
Continued our unsuccessful search for the ruins on the way back.

The Fairy Glen was suggested by Amanda and very definitely worth it. It was a very unique scenery and surroundings, off the beaten path of tourist.







Our boat trip was scheduled for 2:00 PM from Portree, so we decided to stop at the Old Man of Storr, the Waterfall, and Kilt Rock on the way way back from the boat trip and drove straight on to the harbor. Picked up fish and chips from one of the many such store selling them all along the harbor.

Our guide George was from Glasgow and was a bit difficult to understand at first but it got easier the more he talked. He was not only a great guide, he knew his Geology and recommended an app for my phone for it. He himself uses a Lumia 720 and is very happy with it. The trip went over it's scheduled two hours but none of us was in any hurry, not even George.





















We saw seals, Golden Eagles, and a pair of White Sea eagles, one of which swooped down to grab a fish. It was gracefully and so swift, no chance of any photograph being able to capture it to its fullest.

He also showed us The Old Man of Storr and the cave that were supposedly the Bonnie Prince Charlie hideout. We also got great views of the Cuillin Range that seemed to not only stay with us but get closer as we moved further away. George with his typical quirky sense of humor, explained this by saying it was the "moisture effect".

We had reservations for dinner at The School House back in Dunvegan and called the Donoran House to move it back for us, which they did.
We finished our site seeing and proceeded back to The Dunoran House







The dinner was excellent and surprisingly with a Mediterranean flavor. The servers helpful, friendly and attentive.

It was a very long and exhausting day but the scenery and the sites were certainly worth it.

Location:Dunvegan

Saturday 9/7 - Ft. William - Dunvegan

The room was quite cold and I had a rather restless night, waking up freezing, many times during the night.

We packed and came down to breakfast around 8:00 am. Braunwyn, our hostess had taken our breakfast orders the night before and produced our hot breakfast rather quickly.

Then a beautiful full rainbow appeared and just stayed there.




















While we were in there, the "Fell Runners", came in for breakfast and were planning their strategy, quite fun to listen in.

We left around 10 for Mallaig to catch the ferry to the Isle of Skye.










The Ferry holds approximately 30 cars, our tickets were part of the reservation, Trish went in to check in while we waited in line for our turn to drive in to the ferry. The ferry boarded systematically and quickly and soon we were on our way.

We got out of the car and sat in the enclosed viewing area, the crossing was very smooth but the cold and drizzle kept us from going out on to the observation deck. The scenery along the way was beautiful, pretty soon we had to get in our cars and wait in line as the ferry docked.

It felt a bit unreal to me that I was in the Isle of Skye, a place that was almost mythical and mystical.

Stopped on the way for lunch at Claymore Restaurant in Broadford. Our server looked very much like Hakim and we wondered if he was from Morocco as well.

We volunteered Trish to ask and it turned out he was from Madrid and of course a Real Madrid fan.

We drove on towards Dunvegan passing through beautiful scenery all around us, lots of sheep and Highland Cow (Hee land Coo).




















Arrived at the Donorin House Hotel following our tradition of missing the turn and having to make a U Turn back to it. The hotel is about 3 miles south of the town.










It is very small hotel run by a helpful and smiling family (mother, daughter, and son in law). The hotel appeared newly renovated, the rooms were large and well appointed.

We freshened up and met at the bar, where Amanda (the daughter) explained the dinner and breakfast system to us. We had made reservations at the Stein Inn for the next day, but she said that the roads were narrow and windy and we would have difficulty navigating them after sunset.

We took her advice and asked her to cancel our reservation and make another one at The School House in the town of Dunvegan and to have dinner at the hotel.

Dinner was good and starters (appetizers) were plenty for both Trish and myself.

We were quite full but was tempted by the ice cream with oatmeal, honey, cardamom, and Whiskey. One portion was more than enough to share between two. The ice cream was absolutely delicious.

While at dinner we met a delightful couple that was at the next table, they are from The Outer Hebrides and vacationing in the Skye.

After dinner, planned our trip for the next day and turned in for the night.

Location:Dunvegan

Friday 9/6 - Stirling to Fort William

We had breakfast at the hotel, checked out, loaded our luggage in the car and walked to Stirling Castle. The Castle was located at the top of the hill of street our hotel was on.

Free guided tours were provided, our guide was Gordon, a very animated, well informed and entertaining person.













The Castle had a large collection of beautiful artifacts, amongst which the goat unicorn tapestry was my favorites. It was was one of the most important castles and many Kings and Queens have been crowned here including Mary Queen of Scots.













Reluctantly left the castle behind and walked to the the hotel to leave for Fort William. Came to find out that one of the guests had parked their car in an a no parking zone and no cars could get out. There was a long line of cars and we got in line and eventually managed to get out with help from the hotel staff.

Our original plans were to have lunch prior to starting out for Fort William but since we were ahead of time we decided to proceed on. This turned out to be a big mistake combined with unfamiliar and often lack of road signs and having to maneuver a full size SUV.

Arrived in Balloch and had lunch at Duck Bay Restaurant, at the south end of Loch Lomond.













The lunch was very good and the server helpful and smiling as usual, he was a local person named Hamish (James).









Loch Lomond is beautiful but the sky was grey and drizzly so the color was rather drab.









We eventually arrived in Fort William and checked into our pre booked B & B, Stronchreggan View Guest House. We had bookings for two double ensuite and she blithely told us that that's not how it came across to her and she could give us only one ensuite and the bathroom for the other was in the landing.










All of us felt her story seemed "rehearsed", and she gave our room away to someone who checked in prior to us. We wrote to Adeo travels more to caution them than anything.

The hostess was otherwise very friendly and sociable and made hot tea/coffee for us. Free WiFi was available in all the rooms which is always welcome.

We met a group 4 that were in town for the Fell races taking place next day. Apparently they run up Ben Nevis and back. The fastest runners do it in a little over an hour.

Our hostess helped us make reservations at The Tavern restaurant (we were 2-3 miles) south of the city center. The food was tasty, quantity huge, and servers friendly, helpful, and smiling.

We were all tired and had to leave just as they were getting setup for music.

Location:Fort Williams

Thursday 9/5 - Dublin - Stirling

Arrived in Dublin at 4:43 AM.

About an hour before landing we got ham and cheese croissant sandwiches but no hot beverages due to lack of time.

Our luggage was checked through to Edinburgh, we had a rather short connection time and a long walk to where our next flight was leaving. We made it without any incidence.

We collected our luggage and walked to the cafe and had a great roll with clotted cream and a great lattê. I had only read about clotted cream before but after tasting it I now understand what all the commotion is about.

We then walked over to the car rental place, which was quite a distance. We had been upgraded from a Ford Galaxy to VW Sharan, a SUV. This was great for the passengers but very hard to maneuver on the narrow two way streets.

Our first stop was the Falkirk Wheel, an amazing engineering feat. Not having a good idea about it's exact location, we asked at the rental counter. The directions given did not sound right to any of the four of us and we decided to forget those directions and just wing idea.

The signs were very clear and found out without much trouble.




















After spending some time analyzing and admiring this "boat lift", we went on to the Antonine Wall or the remains of it.

From there we proceeded to Stirling and on to the Stirling Highland Hotel after asking many people how to get there. The hotel was beautifully renovated old school house half way up the hill to the Stirling Castle.

The service staff was friendly and helpful as well.










We were too early for checking in so we went to find a local restaurant but couldn't find one nearby so decided to come back to the hotel have lunch.

Sudip and I split a chicken fajita and we each had a cup of soup.

Went in to our rooms and while the others rested I tried to catchup on my emails etc. it was nice to have free and dependable WiFi in the rooms

After a while we went out to eat with Trish while Dan decided to stay back and rest.

We walked around for about half an hour admiring the beautiful buildings and checking on restaurants and finally settled on the restaurant Filling Station for dinner.





























The food was excellent with enormous portion of everything. We brought back our leftovers for Dan, who had started to feel better by then.

We congregated in our room and planned our route for the next day and Trish posted to the Private Group on Facebook.

Finally called it quits around 10:00 PM or so.

Wednesday 9/4 - Enroute to Dublin

Took the 11:10 AM Coach USA to O'Hare for the Aer Lingus fight leaving at 3:50 PM

The security line was very long but checking was smooth and quick. The airport is still in a mess, all the restaurants say "coming soon"

We finally found a coffee shop which sold sandwiches and that worked out fine.

Our aircraft was AB 330-300, and pretty new.




The Captain's name was Elaine Eagan.

We were served dinner which had 3 choices but by the time it got to us only the ravioli was left. I think I was the only who happily finished off the ravioli.

The flight left on time and arrived 45 mins early and was reasonably smooth with short patches of turbulence.

It was only a 6 hour flight so no one got more than a couple of hours of sleep.

Planning - Ireland

Had lunch with Dan and Trish at the Douglas Avenue Diner, it is a neat place with 50s and 60s decor and the food is okay.

Made the following plans for Ireland, did not go into as much detail as we did for Scotland:

Saturday September 14 - Shannon to Ballybunion (1 hr 18 mins, 52 miles)
Ballybunion to Sligo (3 hrs 53 mins, 187 miles)

Sunday September 15 - Sligo to Dungloe (3 hr 0 mins, 113 miles)
(Via Killybegs, Malin More, and Ardara)

Monday September 16 - Dungloe to Bushmill (2 hrs 18 mins, 91 miles)

Tuesday September 17 - Bushmill

Wednesday September 18 - Bushmill to Drogheda (2 hr 56 mins, 147 miles)
Via Larne and Belfast

Thursday September 19 - Drogheda

Friday September 20 - Drogheda to Dublin
I
Fly to Chicago leaving at 3:45 PM
Our site seeing plans include the following at a minimum
Ancient Fort - Grianan of Aileach
Derry (Walls of Derry)
Coleraine/Portrush (Giants causeway)
Glens of Antrim
Hill of Tara

Location:Racine

Planning - Scotland

We had a great lunch at Ye Olde Madrid and then came back to put a plan together and came up with the following. The Scotland part is pretty much complete we will continue on to the Ireland part once we receive all the information from CIE.

Fly into Edinburgh from Chicago (connection via Dublin) - 9/5
Rent car get additional insurance and drive to Stirling - SIM card?

Day 1: Thursday (Edinburgh to Stirling)
Antonine Wall (Rough Castle)
Falkirk Wheel
Stirling - check into Stirling Highland Hotel
Stirling Castle/Get SIM card?

Day 2: Friday Stirling to Fort William)
Trossachs National Park - scenery
Rannoch Moor - scenery
Glencoe Visitor Center
Ben Nevis
Fort William - check into Stronchreggan View Guest House

Day 3: Saturday (Fort William to Dunvegan)
Sites on the way Mallaig
At Mallaig to catch ferry by 11:30am
Ferry to Ardvasar - Isle of Skye
Scenic Drive - various points of interest.
Drive to Dunvegan (Isle of Skye)
Check into Dunorin House Hotel

Day 4: Sunday (Dunvegan)
Nature Tour including sea life
Trotternish Peninsular
Bonnie McDonald burial
Outer Hebrides
Return to Dunorin House Hotel

Day 5: Monday (Dunvegan to Inverness)
Go over bridge
Eilean Donan castle
Along the banks of Lochness
Lochness Visitor Center
Check into Strome Lodge
Possible Loch cruise

Day 6: Tuesday (Inverness)
Alternate Loch Cruise
Culloden Moore & Visitor Center
Drive to Dufftown & return to (Glenfiddich)
Return to Strome Lodge (Inverness)

Day 7: Wednesday (Inverness to Edinburgh)
Alternate Culloden Moore & Visitor Center
Drive to Edinburg via Cairngorms national park
Perth
Cross Firth of Fourth into Edinburgh
Return Car
Check into B&B Edinburgh

Day 8: Thursday (Edinburgh)
Sights of Edinburgh
Day 9: Friday (Edinburgh to Shannon)
Sights of Edinburgh in the morning.
Fly to Shanon at 4:45 PM - arrive 6:50 pm
Pick up rental
Check into The Savoy Hotel

Location:Racine